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Customer Focus: Global Paint for Charity

Collecting paint to help families in need

08/28/17

Every humanitarian has a situation or something which inspires them to do what they do. For Rony Delgarde, paint and bright colors inspire him to help vulnerable families all around the world. He founded Global Paint for Charity to recycle leftover paint from businesses and residents and donate it to communities in developing countries.

Bright colors led to foundation Global Paint for Charity

Global Paint collects, processes and distributes 120,000 gallons leftover paint across eighteen developing countries around the world. The organization has mobilized over 200 companies across five countries to donate their paint for their touching cause.

Rony grew up in a small town in Haiti. Times were difficult under the punishing and deplorable regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier. When Rony immigrated to the United States, he was immediately captivated by the colors he saw at Miami International Airport.

“I landed at the airport, and I could not believe what I saw,” he begins telling Raptim. “It was beautiful to see a city where all houses and tall buildings were painted with amazing colors. And people had all kinds of colors in their hair. Americans love color! I didn’t grow up with it, so that was totally strange to me.”

“I needed to do something about it”

A few years later, the idea for Global Paint was born after a visit to Home Depot. “While I was waiting in line, there was a lady in front of me with twelve cans of paint. She was begging the store manager to take back the paint.” The lady had no use for the paint, but the store wouldn’t take it back. “I helped her take the paint to the car and asked to buy the paint, but she gave them to me for free!"

When Rony sat in his car with all these cans of paint in the trunk, he thought to himself what a terrible waste all that unused paint would have been. A gallon of paint can cost up to a hundred dollars, which is simply unaffordable for many people around the world. An EPA report estimated that approximately 10 percent of the 750 million gallons of paint sold in the U.S. each year becomes leftover paint. “I was shocked just to know how many gallons of paint were thrown away in every year. I could not believe it. I needed to do something about it.”

Paints protects against mold and bacteria

Global Paint volunteers collect donated paint from drop off locations as well as local residences, commercial buildings, churches and paint manufacturers across the United States. They also opened a plant in Honduras to provide paint to their projects in Central America, and will soon build similar facilities in Cameroon, Ghana, and Haiti. With the donated paint, Global Paint helps families in need, encouragingly transforming their communities.

Paint does not only make communities brighter, but it also protects against mold, bacteria and dangerous germs. The presence of which have a significant the health of less fortunate communities. And of course, the environment is better protected by recycling paint, instead of dumping it in landfills.

National Energy Globe Award 2017

The good work being done by Global Paint has not gone unnoticed. This year the organization was awarded the National Energy Globe Award 2017 for the United States. The award is a prestigious environmental prize, which distinguishes projects that conserve resources or utilize renewable or emissions-free sources.

"I think winning this award is fantastic. Hopefully, more people will learn that our program is a great program. Shipping costs are very high, so we need help to get as much paint as possible to the people who need it.”

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Global Paint is an inspiration to us, as is any other compassionate humanitarian organization working towards a better future even for the disadvantaged in our society. Our daily articles provide updates regarding humanitarian response which touch on important issues and explain great aid work going on in different parts of the world. Follow our blog should you want to read more articles regarding humanitarian development.